Sunday, January 12, 2014

RV Park Co-op?

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high , low 46)

I believe the first Rv blog I ever started to follow was written by Howard and Linda Payne and their blog RV-Dreams . The blog and website has some very good information for anyone that owns a RV. It’s particularly helpful for people new to the RV lifestyle, or contemplating going full time. I can’t think of a subject related to RV’s that Howard hasn’t written in detail about, from sewer hoses, to campground reviews. Whether you use your RV for vacations, or you live in it full time, you’ll find useful information on this site. If you’re considering going the full time route, you might want to attend one of their rallies. If you can’t attend a rally, they also put on seminars at many RV shows around the country, and I believe they will be at the Tampa RV Supershow next week.

Howard always does very thorough research on any subject that he writes about. He has recently been looking into how Obamacare/Affordable Care Act affects full timers.

Check out Howards blog about the insurance exchanges in South Dakota here. It appears that at least one company that writes SD health care policies, wants proof of residency in the form of 9 months of utility bills. Since most of us wouldn’t be able to do that, it would be a problem.

He also mentions that the companies that write health policies in South Dakota do not allow coverage across state lines. For a fulltimer, this would be a problem if you get sick in another state. Since most fulltimers with residency in South Dakota, rarely go there, it would be like having no health insurance for a majority of the year. If you are in the market for subsidized insurance under Obamacare, you might want to check out Howards post. I found it very informative.

For the time being, we still have coverage under USAA’s retiree plan. However, with the extension on the employee mandate portion of the ACA set to expire next year, I am very concerned that we may lose our wonderful health care plan, and be in the same boat as many others.

On a different subject, but still something I read on Howards blog, they are considering starting a RV Co-op Rv park.

Would you be interested in buying into something like this?

Many of you know about Escapees which is a club for Rv’ers. They have campgrounds around the country that offer very reasonable rates for members. What some don’t know, is that they also have eleven Co-Op Rv Parks around the United States. The owners own their own sites and help to run the parks. These parks are very popular with waiting lists years long just to be given the opportunity to purchase a lot. There is only one in Florida and it’s in Wauchula, which is not my favorite part of the state.

Howard and Linda are in the beginning stages of exploring getting something like this started in south Florida. Howard was an attorney in a previous life, so he understands the legalities involved, and I would trust him to do the required research.

Howard put a quick online survey on the site to see if there is enough interest. It would not be an investment to try to make money. If it’s run like the Escapee Co-ops, you would get your money back out of the site when you sold it, but would not make money on any appreciation. What you would get is a very cheap place to spend the winter, or if you decided you needed to hang up your keys for whatever reason, you could live there in your RV on a permanent basis.

So, if this is of any interest to you, check out the Rv-Dreams website and see what you think.

Well, I didn’t quite get to my goal of organizing the linen closet yesterday. Thanks to all of you that had some organization tips. I definitely think I need to pare down some of “linens”. I have way too many towels, rags and microfiber towels. I find I need a few extra towels for hot tubbing, boating and kayaking days, but I probably have too many. The main issue is getting to these items that are on the top shelf or in the back. A sliding shelf might help, but I’m reluctant to give up a few inches of space on each side.

I planned on tackling that job yesterday, but we ended up going to see Mom and my day got away from me.

It was hot and muggy yesterday with temperatures in the 80’s and sunshine all day. Another approaching cold front finally brought the predicted rain to us in the evening.

As soon as the rain quit, the temperature started dropping and its currently only 60 degrees. Just how I like it! I don’t think we’ll see any 80 degree temperatures for the rest of the week, but as long as it’s sunny, it’s okay with me.

The big Tampa RV Supershow is next week. Anybody going? It’s one of the largest RV shows in the country, and fact some claim it’s the largest. We’re happy with our rig, so we don’t go into many Rv’s. We spend most of our time at the vendors, and usually find interesting things to buy.

If you go, don’t forget to look for the picture of Al kayaking in the Keys. I’m not sure they will be using the same poster, but keep an eye out for him at the Thousand Trails booths.

I too, can blame Howard and Linda for where we are now...:-). I think we'll be at the show Sunday. No longer a need to check out rigs :-), but fun to go check things out, and see our HR friends at the Amazon booth!

We're planning to be at the show on Wednesday - discount day for old folks. :-) Nice plug for Howard, his blog and the potential co-op Karen. It's great to see Howard and Linda so successful. They convinced us we could full time now rather than wait for full retirement age. We'll be forever grateful given how things have turned out.

See you folks at the RV show...maybe. We're working the River Vista RV Resort booth in Suppliers Building B from 9am-1pm each day of the show Wed-Sun. If you are in that area during those times, stop and say hello.

sooo is Al handing out autographed copies of the cover to us admirers?

ps.. old linens are welcome at animal shelters .. great for bedding... and towels for bathing grubby strays that come in! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Karen and Steve(Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyardhttp://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

We'd love to see you again, but I'm not sure which day we'll be going to the show. We're waiting for mobile RV repairman, and Al might need to go back to doctor, so our schedule is uncertain. I'll let you know if we end up there on either of those days.